Game of Thrones: The Bear and the Maiden Fair

Game of Thrones Episode 7, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” was good. Not so good that I am over the wall excited by it, but I was definitely entertained, intrigued, and a little more invested in these characters. I know bad things are about to happen to many of them, and now I feel just a little worse for that now, which I suppose was the main point here. It’s the moment before the crash of the wave when we have one last chance to see these characters laid bare before something tragic happens to everyone, and I do mean everyone.

“The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, written by George R. R. Martin and directed by Michelle MacLaren. This is Michelle’s first episode of Game of Thrones in the director’s chair (I’m not sure if they actually have an official chair, but I would assume HBO would provide a chair.), and I would say it was a successful first outing. The direction appeared concise, and blended well (almost seamlessly) with the work of previous directors, although pleasantly identifiable. I look forward to her second episode, which airs next week.

It was good, worth watching for Jaime and Brienne, character and plot development are not always the most exciting, but quite entertaining. This is sad because many of those performances were wonderful, but will go unnoticed by the majority of the audience. I plan to say more at the end of this season, but I want to say Gwendoline Christie, Noah Taylor, Natalia Tena, Iwan Rheon, Alfie Allen, Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, Natalie Dormer, Charles Dance, Jack Gleeson, Carice van Houten, Joe Dempsie, Rory McCann, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emilia Clarke, Clive Russell, and Sibel Kekilli, have all been truly fantastic. I’m sure I missed someone, and for that, I feel bad. There is an overwhelming amount of talent in this show and I applaud everyone involved. From this point on, I’ll attempt to limit spoilers until the conclusion of the season’s finale; I honestly don’t want to lessen the experience for anyone.

Let us get the “boring” stuff out of the way. Well, not really boring, just less exciting. Osha does not trust the Reeds and doesn’t want to go north of The Wall, where Bran hopes to find the three-eyed crow. Melisandre tells Gendry he is the son of Robert Baratheon. Ygritte is not very nice, I don’t really think I like her anymore, and it seems Jon is starting to realize things with his girlfriend are not going to end well. Robb Stark finds out Talisa is pregnant, and a heavy rainstorm delays them, probably pissing off the Freys, all they forgot was to say, “Nothing could possibly go wrong now”

The good; Tywin scolds Joffrey. Sansa reminds us that she is still quite naive, and Margaery reminds us that she is not. Tyrion admits he really doesn’t want to marry Sansa, and tries to find a way to “keep” Shae, but she refuses. I am actually starting to feel bad for Theon, still not sure who the sadistic bastard is. Arya has had enough of the Brotherhood, and runs away only to be caught by The Hound. Daenerys demonstrates that is a good queen, and a fair tactician, as well as being pretty ruthless.

The shining gem, sapphire, if you will, of this episode, The reason to watch this one, if you needed one more reason is Jaime and Brienne, or the bear and the maiden fair. Jaime, who we have now learned is not the bastard we thought, returns to Harrenhal to rescue Brienne after learning Locke, refused her ransom. It was most likely Jaime’s fault, something to do with all the sapphires in Westeros and Brienne’s father not offering enough. Locke, being the fair jailer tosses Brienne into a pit to fight a bear with a wood sword, and Jamie jumps in to save Brienne from a big effing bear. This did have me cheering (not literally, ok a bit) for Jaime.

Overall, I am very pleased with what was offered here. Yes thank you, I’ll have another. To explain a bit, why I am not overjoyed with what I have seen here, at this point a mediocre episode of Game of Thrones would be a triumph for any other show, so when I say, it was pretty good, it means I’m spoiled, and hard to impress.

It was a cold December morning in Salt Lake City when I was born, it was a Tuesday. You could tell it was Tuesday because the bathrooms smelled like despair, hopeless lost dreams, and Tuna. I began to grow at an alarmingly normal rate and after 30 years I achieved definite adult-like shape and realized that I had squandered my talent-like abilities. One day I will do something about that squandering, after I finish watching Doctor Who, and if my offspring leave me alone for five minutes.